I asked this question on Twitter. Why? Because, in a comment on an earlier post about the price of Lager, someone mentioned that it was visiting the continent that gave them a taste for it. I'd heard the story before that it was foreign holidays that got drinkers onto Lager. And I'd been sceptical. Now someone said that had been the case for them.
I wanted to know how common this experience was. So I set up a Twitter Poll. Two polls, in fact, because four answers just wasn't enough. Winner was "all your mates drank it". Which is interesting. Basically, that's saying peer pressure.
It got me thinking. The UK way of drinking - taking turns to buy a round for the whole group - favours conformity. Especially with Lager, which was 50% more expensive than Mild. The people I drank with were either Bitter or Mild drinkers. There was only a small difference in price between them.
On the rare occasions when we had a Lager drinker amongst us, I wasn't happy at having to fork out considerably more for one drink in the round. But even worse would have been having two or three Lager drinkers in my circle. Inevitably, there was some pressure for everyone to order drinks of a similar price.
"Got a taste for it abroad", with over 10% of replies, did score reasonably well, coming fifth. Quite a long way behind "liked the taste". Which surprised me a little.
"Less bad than keg Ale" scored worse than I expected, with only five votes. Clearly not a major reason for opting for Lager. At least amongst my very unrepresentative sample. Trendy and advertising also scored very low. Though, in the case of advertising, if it was really effective, you wouldn't notice that it was prompting your choice at the bar.
| Why did you start drinking Lager? | ||
| answer | votes | % |
| all your mates drank it | 42 | 28.77% |
| liked the taste | 27 | 18.49% |
| none of the above | 25 | 17.12% |
| lacked moral fibre | 20 | 13.70% |
| Got a taste for it abroad | 17 | 11.64% |
| less bad than keg Ales | 5 | 3.42% |
| it was trendy and modern | 5 | 3.42% |
| advertising | 5 | 3.42% |
| total | 146 | |
| Source: | ||
| My Twitter poll. | ||
Can't really remember the last time I drank lager in an English pub. Guinness is usually the fall back in a keg only pub, and none of the mainstream lagers has any appeal for me. Stella wasn't a bad pint until a few years ago, but they've messed around with it since: one of my mates who was a committed consumer of it for decades has now ditched it and drinks Heineken instead.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day there was still a lot of indifferent cask ale ( though in my area it was just two suspect pubs) ,in fact keg was probably pushed because of this.
ReplyDeleteAs for lager, sales were always low until the 60s or early 70s. The growth of lager drinking corresponded with the advent of cheap foreign holidays. I am certain that it was cause and effect the more peole seen drinking lager the more tried it.
Though having tried it I have no idea why they continued drinking it :)
Would it be safe to say a lot of the lager brands were national, supported by national-level marketing budgets, whereas bitter or mild brands were more regional? I remember lots of television marketing campaigns for lager (Skol cartoons, Heineken refreshes, Oranjeboom) but only a few for bitter (greenall whitley, Jack Dee). Feels to me like lager brands were more pervasive and entered the nations consciousness more than bitter ever did. That said, it's probably not one or the other but as your poll suggests Ron a complex series of factors that pushed lager into pole position, including the cyclical nature of 'everyone drinks it' - porter, bitter, lager, alcopops, craft beer...
ReplyDeleteAnon:
ReplyDeleteBy the early to mid 70s there were massive campaigns for national bitters in particular although mostly keg. Worthington E, Whitbread Trophy, Watney's Red Barrel, John Smiths and so on.
Trophy was interesting, although it was a national "brand" it was brewed by the regional subsidiaries of Whitbread and not all were keg. I particularly liked the variety you could find in Newcastle brewed at the Castle Eden Brewery (now owned by Camerons) and it was unpasteurised and served from tank by electric pump.
That variety of trophy bitter sounds like a good compromise
DeleteGreat, thanks for correcting my memory! I was only a kid in the 70's and it's possible I'm selectively remembering some of the more fun marketing campaigns for the lager brands. Was Red Barrel sold outside of the south?
ReplyDeleteRed barrel was replaced by just plain 'Red' around the start of the 70's. It was promoted with the slogan "Join the Red Revolution" and lookalikes of Lenin, Stalin, Chairman Mao and the like. The bar fitting was a big red plastic model keg. It was definitely available in the Bradford area though I don't think it ever caught on.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in St. Louis there was Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch, etc., and we all drank it as stupid teenagers because that’s what we could get. I stumbled on a bar that served Fuller’s ESB, London Pride and Porter and couldn’t get enough. Now everything is hazy IPA this or that and I can’t stand it. Ayinger Celebrator is my go to beer these days, so I’ve gone back to a palatable lager.
ReplyDeleteIPA has become a hackneyed cliche at least American types English and Belgian IPA’s seem to be very rare
DeleteWatneys Red was trialled at a pub in Oldham (seen here in a promotional film from about 6.10 minutes: https://youtu.be/NVjkf9N5r2E).
ReplyDeleteIs it true Smithwicks draught now branded red ale is like bass
DeleteI wouldn’t discount the impact of the “heat waves” of the 70s and 80s in driving lager consumption.
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t of age in the 70s, but I definitely recall seeing lager consumption increasing on those hot summer days when cold lager was understandably more attractive than cellar temp ales, especially in venues that struggled to keep their ales properly conditioned when temps were above 90°F.